Chapter 6: The Aunt Who Never Came Home
Naomi called her aunt three times.
Each call went unanswered.
On the fourth attempt, the phone rang long enough for Naomi to hear the faint electronic hum of the connection before the call disconnected.
She lowered the phone.
Richard stood beside her, holding the tablet. Vanessa remained near the conference table, watching the exchange with an anxious expression that had replaced every trace of her earlier arrogance.
“Has your aunt visited the restaurant before?”” Richard asked.
“Not in years.””
“Could she be connected to Northbridge Holdings?””
Naomi shook her head.
“Denise left the family business before my mother died. She said she wanted nothing to do with property investments.””
“When did you last speak to her?””
“Two years ago.””
“What happened?””
Naomi looked at the photograph again.
“She asked whether my mother had left me any letters. I told her I hadn't found anything.””
Richard waited.
Naomi continued.
“She became angry. She said my mother had promised her something, and that I had no right to keep it from her.””
“What did she claim your mother promised?””
“She wouldn't tell me.””
Richard glanced toward the glass door.
“Do you want to contact the building's security team?””
“Yes. Ask them to preserve the access footage and prevent anyone from removing files. Don't confront her until we know what we're dealing with.””
He nodded and stepped into the corridor to make the call.
Naomi turned to Vanessa.
“Did David Cole mention Denise Carter?””
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
“Not by name.””
“Did he show you a photograph?””
“No.””
“Did he describe her?””
Vanessa hesitated.
“He said someone inside your family had been helping him.””
Naomi felt her stomach tighten.
“Those were his words?””
“Yes.””
“Why didn't you tell us earlier?””
“Because I didn't know who he meant!””
“You could have mentioned it.””
Vanessa looked down.
“I was trying to protect myself.””
Naomi gave a humorless laugh.
“At least that's honest.””
Vanessa pulled out her chair and sat down.
“I know you hate me.””
“I don't have time to hate you.””
“You always do that.””
“Do what?””
“Act as though nothing can touch you. As though everyone else is being ridiculous for having feelings.””
Naomi looked at her for a long moment.
“You dropped a napkin at my feet because you wanted to watch me feel small.””
Vanessa flinched.
“You laughed when your friends joined in. You tried to embarrass me in front of strangers. And now, when your own decisions have consequences, you want me to comfort you.””
“I didn't know it would go this far.””
“You knew enough.””
Vanessa wiped beneath one eye, careful not to disturb her makeup.
“I thought I was getting a business opportunity.””
“You were getting paid to look the other way.””
“I never saw the forged signature until today.””
“But you knew the transaction involved me.””
Vanessa said nothing.
Naomi turned toward the window.
For a moment, she remembered her mother sitting at their kitchen table, sorting bills into careful piles while Denise complained that their family spent too much time protecting property and not enough time enjoying life.
The sisters had argued often.
But when Naomi's mother became ill, Denise had stayed by her bedside. She had organized meals, handled hospital paperwork, and held Naomi while they waited for test results.
At the funeral, she had promised to keep the family together.
Then she had disappeared.
Naomi had spent years telling herself that grief made people behave in strange ways.
Now she wondered whether grief had simply provided the perfect cover for a secret.
Richard returned.
“Security has the access logs. They confirmed Denise entered Suite 804 using a key credential registered to the estate administrator.””
Naomi faced him.
“Arthur Bennett's credential?””
“Yes.””
“Isn't that the same credential used to update the account?””
Richard nodded.
“It's possible someone transferred access before he died.””
“But the records show it was updated four months ago.””
“Correct.””
“Who approved the update?””
Richard looked down at the tablet.
“The authorization was digitally verified under your name.””
Naomi stared at him.
“My name?””
“The system contains a signed consent form.””
“I never signed anything.””
“I believe you.””
“Then how could the system accept it?””
Richard lowered his voice.
“Because whoever submitted it had access to an older document bearing your signature.””
Naomi thought of the forged lease.
The witness declaration.
The handwritten note about her mother.
Someone had been collecting pieces of her life and using them to create a false version of her consent.
“Show me the consent form,” she said.
Richard opened the file.
The scanned page was dated four months earlier. It authorized the transfer of administrative access for the estate's remaining properties.
At the bottom was Naomi's signature.
It looked almost perfect.
Almost.
Naomi leaned closer.
“The C is wrong.””
Richard studied the page.
“What?””
“I make a small upward stroke before the final curve. This signature doesn't have it.””
“Could it be a scanning issue?””
“No.””
She pointed to the final letters of her surname.
“And the pressure is wrong. I press harder here.””
Richard enlarged the image.
The line was unnaturally even.
A copied signature.
Naomi straightened.
“Someone used my old signature to authorize access to my mother's estate.””
“And that access was later used to establish Northbridge Holdings as a beneficiary,” Richard said.
“Whoever did this knew my mother's records, knew my signature, and knew how to access the property.””
Vanessa rose slowly.
“Then it wasn't just David.””
Naomi turned toward her.
“What do you mean?””
Vanessa looked frightened again.
“When I met him, he said the difficult part had already been handled. He said the family had taken care of the permissions.””
“Which family member?””
“He wouldn't say.””
“But you assumed it was me.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because he said you were the last person who could stop the transfer.””
Naomi absorbed the words.
If David had believed she could stop the transaction, he knew something about her relationship to the estate that she herself had not fully understood.
Richard's tablet chimed again.
He looked at the screen and frowned.
“What now?”” Naomi asked.
“The security team has found a second person on the access footage.””
“Who?””
Richard rotated the tablet.
The image showed Denise entering Suite 804. Several seconds later, a man appeared in the corridor, carrying a black briefcase.
He wore a dark suit and had a neatly trimmed beard.
Naomi didn't recognize him.
Vanessa, however, stepped backward.
“Oh, my God.””
Naomi turned sharply.
“You know him?””
Vanessa's lips parted.
“That's David Cole.””
Richard enlarged the image.
“Are you certain?””
“Yes.””
“When did you last see him?””
“Two weeks ago.””
“Where?””
“At my office.””
“What did he tell you?””
Vanessa looked at Naomi.
“He said the transaction would be finalized today.””
Naomi's pulse quickened.
“What else?””
“He said that once the papers were signed, there would be no way to reverse the transfer.””
Richard immediately called security again.
“Keep the building's footage running. Do not let anyone leave with documents until counsel arrives.””
He listened, then his face tightened.
“What do you mean the suite is empty?””
Naomi stepped closer.
“Empty?””
Richard ended the call.
“Security checked the corridor. No one is there now.””
“Did they enter Suite 804?””
“The door is locked.””
“Then how do they know it's empty?””
“They checked the neighboring offices and the stairwell.””
Naomi shook her head.
“Call them back. Tell them not to touch anything and to contact the police if they have reasonable grounds to believe evidence is being removed.””
Richard made the call.
Vanessa began pacing.
“This is getting out of control.””
Naomi turned toward her.
“No. It was out of control before you dropped that napkin.””
Vanessa stopped.
For once, she didn't answer.
Naomi picked up her phone and searched for Denise's last known number. She found the contact beneath an old photograph of the two sisters standing beside their mother at a summer family gathering.
Her thumb hovered over the call button.
Then a message appeared.
Unknown number.
*Stop looking for your aunt. She is trying to protect you.*
Naomi read it twice.
A second message arrived.
*Ask Richard what happened the night your mother signed the original agreement.*
Naomi slowly lifted her eyes.
Richard was still speaking to security, his face turned toward the windows.
She waited until he ended the call.
“Richard.””
He turned.
“Who sent this message?””
“I don't know.””
She showed him the screen.
His expression shifted when he read the second line.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Naomi stepped closer.
“You know what happened that night.””
Richard looked toward the glass door, then at Vanessa, who had gone completely silent.
“Naomi,” he said carefully, “your mother didn't sign that original agreement willingly.””
The room seemed to lose its air.
“What are you saying?””
Richard closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he opened them.
“I'm saying that seven years ago, the night your mother signed the document, someone called me and begged me to stop it.””
Naomi gripped her phone.
“Who called you?””
Richard looked directly at her.
“Your mother.””
He paused.
“And before she hung up, she told me that if anything happened to her, I was never to let you find out who had been standing in the room with her.””
Naomi's voice barely emerged.
“Who was standing with her?””
Richard's answer was interrupted by a sharp knock against the glass door.
Malcolm stood outside, holding a white envelope.
His face was drained of color.
He opened the door just enough to pass it through.
“Ms. Carter,” he said, his voice shaking.
“Someone left this at the front desk for you.””
Naomi took the envelope.
Her full name was written across the front in handwriting she recognized immediately.
Her mother's.
Inside was a single sheet of paper and one small brass key.
Naomi unfolded the letter.
May you like
The first line read:
*My darling Naomi, if this reaches you, then Denise has finally chosen a side.*
